Prior to their time in court, the protesters appeared on the green across from the courthouse. This quote, from a Bridgeport minister, struck me:

“I’m inconvenienced by the countless men and women that have to have conversations with their children about stuff that white persons will never have to have conversations about,” said Rev. Anthony Bennett of the Mount Aery Baptist Church. “That’s an inconvenience.”

The protesters (the 12th could not be in court today and will appear later) were charged with disorderly conduct in violation of Section 53a-182 of Connecticut law. Before they could agree to be arrested, the dozen went through training to know what to expect, said Tom Swan, who was among those arrested. He said 40 more people were anxious to volunteer to be arrested, but they hadn’t been trained, and it was important this go smoothly.

This morning, the protesters were given one day of community service apiece. They will return to court on Dec. 9 to find out what that service might entail.

Community court was started in 1998 in no small part because of the involvement of Judge Raymond Norko, who is known for his creative community service orders, like sending people to shovel the snow from the sidewalks and porches of people who can’t shovel for themselves, or sending people to follow parades and clean up after horses.

In his chambers this morning, Judge Norko told me he would consider sending them to the Occupy Hartford encampment to do clean-up — though the site at Broad and Farmington is pretty clean already.

Over all, from the police involvement to community court, one of the arrested protesters, Daniel I. Medress, of SEIU, said everyone had been extremely professional and courteous. Hartford is emphatically not Oakland.